Power plants, such as coal and natural gas plants, generate large amounts of carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, it is desirable to limit the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. Although a seemingly simple solution to the problem of limiting carbon dioxide release would be to convert the carbon dioxide into other compounds, which could be used in various applications, carbon dioxide is an extremely stable molecule and is therefore difficult to break down into other components. It can therefore be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a system and method for converting carbon dioxide into other compounds.